BofA's Surging Digital Assistant Signals a Turning Point in Retail Banking

Is it possible that a mobile app used by seven million people -- and which is adding more than half a million new users per month and has already handled more that 50 million client interactions -- would not be considered a success? Even Christian Kitchell, AI Solutions and Erica Executive at Bank of America declares, "We're only in the first mile of a marathon." Forrester Principal Analyst Peter Wannemacher says Erica's number of interactions is a positive, but doesn't indicate success. He does add, however, that "Erica has been more successful than many industry insiders -- probably even Bank of America itself -- thought it would be." Bank of America's virtual financial assistant (the name is derived from the last part of "America") launched in June 2018.